About Spine Group Orlando
Spine Group Olando is the spine center within Celebration Orthopaedics. The patients of Spine Group Orlando benefit from access to a highly skilled team of spine specialists and non-surgical experts dedicated to comprehensive spine care. Fellowship-trained spine surgeons such as Maahir Haque, MD, Ferras Albitar, MD, and José Humberto Jiménez-Almonte, MD bring advanced expertise in minimally invasive, reconstructive, and motion-preserving spine procedures, treating conditions ranging from herniated discs to complex spinal deformities.
Complementing their surgical care, Matthew Willey, MD, a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) physician, plays a critical role in delivering conservative, non-operative treatments focused on pain management, functional restoration, and long-term spine health. Together, this collaborative approach ensures that patients receive personalized care—prioritizing non-surgical solutions when appropriate while offering cutting-edge surgical intervention when necessary.
How to select the best spine surgeon in Orlando
Symptoms like radiating pain in a leg or arm, or numbness and weakness in a leg or arm, typically indicate a disc related problem, or stenosis, which can require spine surgery to permanently correct to relieve symptoms long term.
In the search for a spine surgeon, a person can become confused about the wide variation in spine surgeons. Over the years, spine surgery has been provided by orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons.
However a general orthopedic surgeon can spend his or her time doing knee or hip replacement, or simple shoulder or knee surgery, in addition to spine cases. Neurosurgeons, likewise, can spend a lot of their time doing brain surgery and trauma cases related to head injury from car accidents.
Medicine in major cities has become super specialized in that the best spine surgeons ONLY do spine surgery, and do not split their time addressing other problems. That enables the trained spine surgeon to do more than 200 spine surgeries each year, which produces the highest level of competence. Like anything else in life, practice makes perfect.
About Fellowship Training
All four of the physicaians at Spine Group Orlando are Fellowship Trained in Spine. A fellowship-trained physician means that the spine surgeon or PM&R completed an additional year of training specifically in their specialty, performing highly complex spine treatments in a regional spine center.
The spine surgeons and neuro spine surgeons become proficient in spinal cord surgery; nerve decompression; spinal fusions; minimally invasive surgery techniques using tubular retractors the size of ballpoint pens; and the most advanced artificial disc replacement in the lumbar and cervical spine.
Maahir Haque, M.D.
Board-Certified Orthopedic Surgeon
Fellowship-Trained in Spine Surgery
Specializing in Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
Dr. Maahir Haque is a Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon, who is also Fellowship-Trained in Spine Surgery. Within his Orlando spine center practice, he specializes in minimally invasive spine surgery. Dr. Haque specializes in the treatment of neck and back pain using the newest evidence-based methods. Dr. Haque's primary goal is to provide the highest-quality care to his patients in the least invasive manner so they may return to their functional lives as quickly and comfortably as possible.
Ferras Albitar, M.D.
Orthopedic Spine Surgeon
Fellowship-Trained in Spine Surgery
Specializing in Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
& Robotic Assisted Spine Surgery
Dr. Ferras Albitar is an orthopedic spine surgeon, who is fellowship-trained in spine surgery. Dr. Albitar specializes in minimally invasive spine surgery using tubular retractors; artificial disc replacement; kyphoplasty; vertebroplasty; robotic-assisted spine surgery and complex spinal reconstruction surgery. Dr. Albitar has completed the complex spine and adult spinal deformity surgery fellowship at Brown University where he was also a clinical instructor.
José Humberto Jiménez-Almonte, MD
Orthopedic Spine Surgeon
Fellowship-Trained in Spine Surgery
Specializing in Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
& Robotic Assisted Spine Surgery
Dr. Jose Humberto Jiménez-Almonte is one of the few dual-fellowship trained spine surgeons in the United States. His passion is to help his patients return to a pain free, active lifestyle. Dr. Jimenez specializes in minimally invasive spine surgery. He is on the forefront of spine surgery and offers the most innovative, minimally invasive surgical and non-surgical treatments; including robotic surgery, artificial disc replacement, and minimally invasive spine surgery using smaller 1-inch incisions which enables a faster recovery.
Matthew Willey, MD
Board-Certified Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Fellowship-Trained in Interventional Spine
Dr. Willey is a board-certified specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He is Fellowship-Trained in Interventional Spine. He specializes in helping patients with back pain and neck pain resolve symptoms through nonsurgical treatment options like spinal injections.
Maahir Haque, MD is recognized as a leader in the field of minimally invasive spine surgery. At Spine Group Orlando, Dr. Maahir Haque, Dr. Ferras Albitar, Dr. José Humberto Jiménez-Almonte, and Dr. Willey also provides second opinions for spine surgery and MRI reviews for those with back pain and neck pain. Dr. Haque emphasizes non-surgical options for back pain and neck pain where possible. This can include accessing a back pain specialist with expertise in pain-relieving spinal injections and spine therapists. Spine therapy can include back stretches that can be a future home remedy for back pain or neck pain. If spine surgery is necessary because of a herniated disc, spinal fracture, or spinal stenosis, Dr. Maahir Haque operates through tubular retractors that reduce the size of the incision, lessen blood loss, reduce time in the hospital, speed return to activity with a less painful recovery. This spine surgery expertise enables many patients to have outpatient spine surgery and be home the same day. Spine Group Orlando provides artificial disc replacement in the neck using the Mobi-C disc implant, the first FDA-approved disc for multiple levels in the neck. Prodisc-C is also used for artificial disc replacement in the cervical spine. Dr. Haque is one of the few spine surgeons in Orlando, Florida to provide lumbar artificial disc replacement using the Prodisc-L artificial disc. Dr. Haque is also referred patients from across Orlando and north central Florida for artificial disc replacement surgery as an alternative to spinal fusion. Accordingly, Dr. Haque's patients travel from across north central Florida, including: Orlando; Jacksonville; Tallahassee; Lakeland; Gainesville; Tampa; Daytona Beach; and Cocoa Beach. The spine center, as a destination for medical tourism for some international patients from Mexico and the Caribbean, can provide recommendations to out-of-town patients on nearby hotels and tourist attractions. Dr. Haque is featured on the national site CentersforArtificialDisc.com as an author on the subject of artificial disc replacement for herniated discs in the neck. The Centers for Artificial Disc web site has content specific to disc replacement options and alternatives to spinal fusion. Click here to visit the Centers for Artificial Disc.
